


To Puerto Lobos - And Beyond!

by SerratedCucumber



Category: Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:53:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23219563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerratedCucumber/pseuds/SerratedCucumber
Summary: A Post-Blood Brothers Life is Strange 2 fanfiction, resuming where the Wolf Brothers left off at crossing the border, and bridging the cinematic gap between the two children who cross the border, and the grown boys we see on-screen fighting away gangs from their home in Mexico. A tale of love, loss, and healing, serious themes will be covered, such as trauma, morality, and coming-of-age. Daniel and Sean Diaz are about to be culturally immersed in the world of Puerto Lobos, a small, decaying coastal town which bears witness to a mountain of gang crime. Will the Diaz Brothers overcome all odds, or lose themselves in the process?
Relationships: Cassidy & Sean Diaz, Daniel Diaz & Sean Diaz, Sean Diaz & Finn, Sean Diaz & Jacob, Sean Diaz & Karen Reynolds, Sean Diaz & Lyla Park
Comments: 11
Kudos: 40





	1. Dusty Desert

For the sixth time in the last minute, Sean heard the idle slapping noise of Daniel playing with his rubber wristband. A sound accompanied by the gentle rolling of their car down the unkempt desert road; which so far had characterised his journey through Mexico. Three long hours the boys had been on the road, heads twisting left to right at any foreign assault on their ears; cars occasionally whizzing past them, the distant buzz of a desolate motel sign, or a singular bleak bird’s cry from above. To say that it had been an awkward, slow ride was an understatement. The boys had stopped once only for a bathroom break on the side of a sizzling rock; not that they weren’t used to the heat, but they preferred the still slightly functional breeze of Karen’s air-conditioned car. Sean looked ahead; miles and miles, focusing on the horizon line. Nothing. He had passed a few small towns, but strategically avoided them due to the incident at the border being fresh in his mind; the anxiety had not stopped once they’d crossed the wall.

He recalled a drawing exercise he used to do; taught by his art teacher in seventh, eighth grade? He didn’t remember the details, which was precisely the exercise. A learning curve in perspective, he was tasked to draw a rolling plains from the perspective of a road; to watch the condensation of the foliage into the distance on which his eyes could no longer focus, to sketch inwards, draw the power lines, the sunset, whatever his mind could play with in the scenery.

“Sean?” Came a familiar, yet startling voice from his right-hand side. He did not take his eyes off the road, before the follow-up came. “Do you think that… Dad would be okay with what we- what I did? At the border?”

Sean was glad he hadn’t made eye-contact. The bitter regret in Daniel’s words personified a shift from a child to more of an adult. The weight of the consequences of his actions sunk in; embedded like the stink of cigarette smoke in Karen’s junker, and as he often couldn’t, Sean failed to find an answer within the stunted reach of his mind. Too much had happened that day, it was too hot to think, and so he shook his head dismissively.  
  
“I don’t know Daniel.” He let a sigh escape his nostrils. “We… we did what we had to do. That’s always been the case, right?”  
  
  
His younger companion shifted about in his seat a little uncomfortably; Sean had let him take his seatbelt off for the journey, as at this point, it didn’t really matter after all they’d done.

“Yeah, I know. I just miss him, Sean… Why couldn’t he be here with us, today? He always said we’d see Mexico one day, but I didn’t know he meant alone.” That sentence struck terror into Sean’s heart; Daniel’s accelerated maturity, his desire to have his dad back, his appreciation for who his younger brother was all coalesced into some form of melancholic feeling. As he felt his lips pursing and eyes welling up with tears, he looked back at his brother for the first time, sacrificing his view on the road to see Daniel, also whimpering a little and looking dejectedly at the road ahead.

“I miss him too, Enano. I’m sorry… You deserved to have him here with you…” Sean pondered for a moment, thinking about Daniel’s current state of mind, before continuing; “But hey… you know if Dad was here, you wouldn’t get to ride shotgun, and he’d make you wear a booster seat or something.”  
  
“Shut up, I-“ Daniel began, before Sean cut him off by shooting his hand towards his little brother and jabbing him in the stomach with his fingers, tickling him mercilessly.

“And he’d play his music and sing _super_ loud!” Sean laughed, gritting his teeth through tears and forming his best impression of Esteban. “¡Y al fin te encontré!” It was so hard to fight back the urge to cry.

“Aah- Stop! Dad wouldn’t be an asshole and tickle me!” Daniel pleaded between a flurry of giggles, kicking his legs hysterically against the dusty dashboard.

“Daniel, careful! Or you’re gonna knock the door off and fall out! I don’t know if Karen’s car can take you bashing against it.” He laughed, ceasing his assault for now, looking down at his little brother. “You know? I think Dad would be proud of us. We haven’t done too bad out here.”

“I hope so…” Daniel smiled cautiously. The two didn’t want to birth a celebratory energy, but it was impossible to remember hours earlier, being cornered at the border.

“Hey, even if Dad wouldn’t be? I’m proud of you dude. You got us through.”

“Thanks, Sean. But you did too.”

The two exchanged warm grins, and Sean fixated his eyes back on the road; the atmosphere within the car feeling a little less stagnant and awkward now. Driving Karen’s car had given him some much-needed levity over his situation. Rolling over miles upon miles of desert and cacti put his mind at ease. How could the police find him in such a vast expanse? Truly, the desert was like a wasteland; overgrown with encrusted foliage which looked like it hadn’t seen moisture since it had grown. Quirky critters littered the wastes, shovelling sand and scampering about their homeland. Sean had recently come to the realisation that despite losing his father in Seattle, despite losing his eye in Humboldt, his mother in Arizona, the world had not stopped turning. Animals still filled their burrows with plentiful food, the cooling veil of night still swept over him; the stars finding their way to the wolf brothers every night. After everything that had happened, life could still go on. Sean still had nightmares; troubled thoughts. He had issues with making peace with some of his decisions.

The image of Lisbeth down the barrel of his gun, her defiant yells, then… as if by mere automatism, the deafening bang and subsequent ringing in his ears… He aimed for her chest, but got her in the stomach instead. God, he wished he had aimed higher. Then perhaps the woman wouldn’t have looked up in him in such pain as she did. She gargled, as if a sound wanted to come out, but it couldn’t; drowning in her own thick, hot blood. It haunted Sean. White-hot, blinding fear had shot through his veins. He still hadn’t deciphered whether the church was so swelteringly hot from the fire, but… it felt as if he had began to burn alive in that moment. Taking a glance at his younger brother, he had not easily forgotten the moment, and had been somewhat wary of Sean for days after, like a rose bent in place, Sean would have a hard time recovering and tried to focus his mind away from the church. It wasn’t like he could talk to anybody about it, or go to therapy. It festered in his mind like a rotting corpse under thin soil; veiled in a conundrum of his mind’s inner workings. Had he refused to acknowledge the possibility of sparing her due to rage? It had caused him to doubt the Seattle incident; had he really killed the officer in a blind rage, as the officer had suggested? No. Those were insane thoughts. It was Daniel’s power, surely? Surely…

Almost in a trance-like state, it took a distant wail to permeate Sean’s thoughts, and he was brought back to reality, with Daniel sitting on his knees in the passenger seat, turned around and looking out of the back of the car.

“Sean! It’s the cops!”

Craning his neck and placing a hand on Daniel’s shoulder to leverage himself, Sean noticed the distant sirens of the car. They were the only ones on the road, alone. The midday heat was burning on Sean’s palms like a trickle of molten sun; sweat running down the back of his neck. All of the general anxiety he had been feeling throughout the day condensed into an immediate fear of the car that loomed around ten feet behind him. He began to panic, slamming his foot onto the pedal and keeping watch behind him. The car was definitely for him.

“S-Sean… I can get rid of them. I’ll throw their car off the road, or shatter the glass, o-or just… crush them. Please, I know I can do this.”

“Shit…” Sean whispered to himself, his eyes flickering up between his wing mirror and the road ahead. Of course, this could just be a routine check. But… he wasn’t entirely sure. There was no way of telling. He couldn’t outpace the roaring Chevrolet behind him in this old junker, and it was only a matter of time before evading was no longer an option. He had to act. Quick. Now. Fast. The car was getting closer. Distance closing.

“I’m going to do it!” Daniel yelled, holding his arm back in preparation to thrust it forward, before Sean grabbed his hand and held it, shaking his head wildly from side-to-side and pleading.

“No, no Daniel. Don’t do it. We’ll pull over and see what they want… But if we need to, we’ll do it. Okay? Just… wait until I give you the signal.” Sean reassured him, letting go of Daniel’s arm as it slowly slumped against its side.

“Sean! They could shoot us! Look at what nearly happened this morning!”

“I know! I know Daniel… Sean trembled, slowly starting to decelerate and pull over to the side of the road. “Just… please trust me on this.” And thankfully, he did. The smaller Diaz slowly slid down his chair, huffing quietly in protest. Sean finally drew the car to a halt on the bumpy desert sand, and rolled down the driver window as the sirens turned off, a heavy-set officer stepping out, with a large pistol at his belt, and a small scanner-looking device. He glanced to Sean, and then to Daniel, and back to Sean again as he approached the window, bending down in his large frame.

“Hola.” He began. “ _Are you aware of why I stopped you today?_ ”

Sean hesitated; any answer could break his cover… the cop could draw his gun at any moment. “ _N-No sir.”_

_“I’ll tell you why. Do you not see the signs? Ninety kilometres per hour. You know how much you were doing? No. You don’t. You were doing a hundred and three exactly. Suppose you’d have hit somebody.”_

_“Sir…”_ Sean began. _“There’s nobody and nothing on the road for miles. I’m sorry, I must’ve just missed the sign. I’m sorry.”_

The officer looked at him and then focused his vision to Daniel. “ _And you’re driving with a kid in the car too? Wait- without a damn seatbelt? I don’t know which parts you come from, friend, but around here, we run things tightly with this… Too many accidents going on, and you’re contributing to the endangerment of it all.”_ He said, with a stern face. “ _Get out of the car, and give me your license.”_

Sean hesitated; the dry, dusty breeze which swept through the car helping to remove the sweat from his palms a little, before pretending to rummage about in the passenger seat compartment for the license. His fingers stumbled across his ID, would this be of much use? He didn’t have his driver’s license yet. Sure, he’d been on drives with Esteban, but he couldn’t drive under the law. Daniel looked at him cautiously, gesturing to his hand and tilting his head inquisitively. Sean shook his head.

“Not yet Daniel. It’s because we were over the speed limit.”

“ _Ah Christ, and you’re from Arizona too? You know that the road laws are different once you cross, right? Just… hurry up.”_

He sighed, gently swinging the door open and stepping out into the blazing sun; hot like a heat lamp.

“ _Sorry, officer. I don’t have my license. I must have forgot it at home. But I have my state ID from Seattle.”_ The dishevelling disappointment which spread across the officer’s face was not much of a surprised to Sean, as he bowed his head in shame. Suddenly, Sean was met with a sharp finger in his face, the officer moving him backwards to inspect the interior of the car, upon which his large brusque hands stumbled into the half-open compartment box, where he pulled out a number of items. His Puerto Lobos lighter, and a small bundle of paperwork; their letters from Claire and Stephen, Jacob, Cassidy… His gruff countenance studied these items briefly, and he seemed thoroughly unphased. He sighed a long sigh, looking up at Sean.

“ _Shame you had to be from the United States. I can’t exactly get you on a ticket while you’re here, it would be too hard to enforce, so you get off easy today. But drive like that around here again, and I swear, I’ll rough you up myself. Show you what it’d be like for a law-defying jackass like you to get into a real accident.”_ The ostentatious man grumbled, stuffing Sean’s letters and his lighter back into his hands, when suddenly, a small card fell out of the pile, just his ID card. The officer picked it up and studied it once more, looking back at Sean and at the image again.

“ _Why did you lose your eye?”_ He inquired, the tone of audible suspicion in his thick accent.

“ _Accident.”_ Sean muttered, “ _In California.”_

_“Quite the traveller. Arizona plates, Seattle ID, lost your eye in Calif-…”_

Suddenly, it was as if the wind had dropped, and the entire wilderness had fallen silent.

“ _Sean Diaz.”_

Sean swallowed, nodding up at the man, who easily towered at above six feet tall. “Sean Diaz. That’s me.” The guard immediately held up his piece of equipment, the scanner to Sean’s ID, and heard three loud beeps, almost like an alert. The guard proceeded to lay a firm hand on Sean’s shoulder, and hold the scanner to his face, the same three beeps sounding again. At first, his slacked jaw became even more agape, but after a while, he simply laughed breathlessly, his face lighting up as if coming to some sort of wild epiphany.

“ _Sean Diaz. Wanted double-murderer, terrorist, vandal, and illegal immigrant.”_ He smirked widely, stepping towards Sean even further and baring his teeth slightly.

“ _Please… We just want to be free-“_ He begged. _“That kid, in the car? That’s my brother. He’s been through hell… Whatever the American Police have told you guys, it isn’t worth sending us back. This entire time, all I’ve done is protect my brother. I haven’t always made the right choices, and I know how bad this looks… But we’re just kids. I don’t know what you want from me, but please, have some humanity dude… Let us go free.”_

The officer took a brusque advance; stepping forward onto Sean’s toes and crushing them in his boots. He let a stark scowl emerge from his otherwise maliciously evil countenance. Sean shuddered.

“ _Give me one reason I shouldn’t just shoot you right here, gringo. We don’t want your dirty crimes here. Those can stay in the USA. Say I gunned you down here. What are you gonna do? What’s your brother gonna do? You’re unarmed, and in the middle of nowhere.”_

Sean nodded. “ _Unarmed. No weapon. We pose no threat to you, or to Mexico. Our dad lived here, before everything. Before us. We want to go to his hometown, settle down, and live our lives in peace.”_ He felt a surge of panic enter his bowels; butterflies igniting his stomach. Had this all been for nothing? He’d fled the USA to flee conviction, but now, things were just the same.

The large man placed a fat finger on Sean’s chest, forcing him backwards and stepping even closer towards him. Were it not for his aggressive nature, Sean would be sure the man was flirting with him.

“ _Empty your backpack. Money, anything valuable. And we will talk about what can be done for your sorry situation, criminal.”_

A sudden power found it’s way into Sean’s voice. He had braved staring down the barrel of Merrill’s shotgun, of the white-hot rage of hundreds of bullets being fired towards him at the border. This would not be how he was caught. He had to act, fast. Protect Daniel. The idea of him being alone in a foreign country should anything happen to Sean was unbearable. He turned around to his brother and nodded.

“ _My brother will get the bag for you. Touch a hair on his head, and I swear I’ll fucking kill you.”_ Sean barked, not bothering to wait for permission as his younger brother exited the car, meekly making his way towards the officer and Sean, his eyes questioning and attentive, as if constantly waiting for a signal to use his power. Sean gently shook his head to indicate for him to wait, his ruffled hair swishing around his head.

“Daniel, I need you to ‘Get our bags’ Sean uttered to his brother, holding Daniel’s shoulder firmly. “When you ‘Give him the bags’, be sure there’s nothing in there that would hurt him too badly, okay? We don’t want to do that. We just want to ‘Give him our bags’ and he’ll let us go.”

He took a look at the officer. “ _See? He’ll get the shit for you._ ” And as if instantly, Daniel tightened his wrist and flung it out, grabbing the officer in a tense chokehold with his gift, and dragging him up from his feet. Sean instinctively rushed forward and grabbed the gun from his side-holster while the man tried to desperately grasp away at his neck. Safety off, already loaded.

“Remember what I said, Enano. Don’t kill him or hurt him too bad. We don’t want this shit out to get us, right?”

The younger Diaz nodded tentatively, as if there was some cognitive dissonance going on. He was clearly desiring more out of this.

“Sean… what do I do with him?”

“Let him down.”

And so he did. Daniel held no care for the officer’s comfort as he dropped the burly man to his knees, panting and perplexedly looking between the two brothers, who stood confidently, Sean with his gun in hand. The officer took a step towards Daniel, as if trying to grasp at him, yet stopped immediately upon the older Diaz holding the pistol at arm’s length, trained on the man’s blubbered chest, ready to fire.

“Get back, o-or I swear, I’m going to blow your head off!” Sean remarked in English through gritted teeth. He wanted to be firm in his demands, lest there be another repeat of Lisbeth disobeying his gun threat. The officer surprisingly put his hands in the air; the familiar trembling of his bottom lip becoming his dominant act, the fear obvious to Sean. He cocked the gun and took a step backwards towards the car as the officer still struggled to regain his panicked breath.

_“I want you to drive the other way to us.”_ Came the autonomous demands from Sean’s mouth, his jaw agape with anger and his entire body tensed, as if it could snap at any moment. “ _And never, ever mess with the Wolves again. Got it?”_ A pang of rage coursed through Sean’s limbs, an overwhelming sentiment of anger which threatened to consume his body at any moment, forcing him to pull the trigger and end this man’s life. But he resisted it. For both Daniel, and for himself. He pocketed the gun into his belt and gestured to the car. Having no caution not to touch the boiling metal of the car, Sean entered the driver’s seat, and despite the guard’s reason for stopping them, tore off well above the speed limit, and without a seatbelt in sight.

And so the journey continued, to Puerto Lobos, and beyond.


	2. Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean and Daniel arrive at the mystical town of Puerto Lobos by nightfall; restless after their journey, can the two figure out a means of getting good rest?

"We're nearly there, Daniel. We've nearly made it."

No response. Daniel sat comforted, a warm smile coming to his tired, droopy countenance, with his chin resting in his palm, elbow against the rattling window of the car. His eyes scoured the vast desert, following the cacti and bushes which whirred past them. Speed limit certainly didn't matter here, the roads were more characterised by their outlines rather than the tarmac, as they were unkempt and full of potholes. The road Daniel had destroyed was a smoother ride than this, but Sean tore up the road anyway, giving no regard for his speed. They were alone.

Several hours had passed since their incident with the officer in the desert. Sean pondered on him; had there been a better way to handle that? What choice had the officer given him in using force? Pleading hadn't worked. The confrontation was inevitable. All he could do was attempt to put it behind him; add it to the top of the colossal mental mountain he had built up of people and places he had left behind. Hopefully, this desert would be the last thing he would have to abandon on his quest to find peace. 

Peace; something Sean had known little of. However, he could not deny the innate tranquillity of the desert sunset; The sun had long since relented; the cooling veil of the night threatening to sweep over the desert like a navy-coloured pall. Of course, this meant that with every minute that went along, the blue sky fading into black enticed the stars to come out and play. Stargazer. That's what he was. Over the past month, Sean's connection to the stars had become a part of him again. Upon Karen's abandonment when he was a kid, he'd never really had a reason to look up to the night sky. 

He was glad that now he did. Because Karen had taught him something; it was not just him that would be looking to the stars. He had promised her that once he got to Mexico, he would stare up at the constellations, whether alone or with Daniel, and she would too. "No matter how far away I am, Sean, we're always under the same stars." He could've sworn she had told him those same words a few nights before she left, but he didn't know. Maybe he couldn't remember because he didn't want to. That time was all a blur. 

"Sean, look!" Daniel chirped, thrusting upwards to his knees and peering over the dashboard. Sure enough, he was gesturing to the distant illumination of a town, and it wasn't until a second later that Sean caught sight of the desolate sign flashing by. "PUERTO LOBOS, 500M"

"We made it, dude! We fucking did iiiit!" Sean cheered, playfully shaking his brother, who was alight with giggles and excitement.

"It looks so cosy! Look at it! Look!" Daniel pestered, poking Sean and pointing to the distant town, which whirred closer at every instance.

"Dude, you can't even see it yet." Sean laughed. The two rolled into the town, the first few houses and stores passing them; signs in Spanish. A small cocktail bar which had just enticed the early evening crowd, a motel sporting a buzzing neon sign: Hotel Dona Martha, rows and rows of small, flat-roofed homes, a beautiful array of flowers; crimson, amber, white, all in a shop front. The town was quiet, eerily so. The boys were likely to attract little attention, yet Sean feared for the noise of his car. An amazed Daniel stared out of the windows, eyes widely soaking up the imagery before him. Sean scoured around, trying to gauge the place from Google maps satellites, and Esteban's old photos, until finally, he stumbled across an unkempt-looking stone structure. Rather similar to other stone structures in the area, except the front was littered with garbage bags, refuse, old furniture, and cracked tiles. Sean rolled up to the curb, parking the car and gazing into the old, derelict windows which housed the empty soul of lost lives.

"We're here, Daniel," Sean announced, turning off the engine and craning his neck over his brother's shoulder to get a look at the house.

"This is it?" Daniel asked. "It looks a little creepy. Are you sure this is the place? Dad wouldn't have lived here."

Sean chuckled, trying to suppress Daniel's blatant disillusionment. "Hah, n-nah man, don't forget, Dad hasn't been here for, like, twenty years."

"Wow, really?" Daniel asked, his eyes unbroken from the hollow house, whose windows, Sean had noticed, were cracked and broken in places. "That's two whole centuries!" He gasped.

A bit of comic relief broke Sean's anxiety. "Dude, centuries? You mean decades. A century is a hundred years. He's not that old, Enano." 

"Oh." He muttered. "I knew that, I was just testing you." Sean was glad he was now annoyed at his brother's teasing rather than at their potential future living situation. It wasn't Daniel's worry to have, Sean wanted to take this burden and let Daniel have his peace of mind. Swinging the rusted door open and taking a look at the house, it wasn't long before Daniel followed along like a puppy, marching to the front door.

"C-can we go inside?" He asked, impishly staring through the window and banging on it, as if to summon some spirit to let them in. Sean saw the inside of the house. Derelict and destroyed. Old furniture lay strewn across the room, with damp paperwork and all sorts of rubble and refuse obscuring the floor. Swinging the door open, Sean took a step into a dark, musky shell of a house. This was not home. This felt like no uncomfortable place the Diaz brothers had slept. Even the abandoned house had been more upkept than this. Writings on the wall indicated all kinds of obscene graffiti. Sean was glad Daniel couldn't read half of the stuff plastered on Esteban's walls. Rotted wallpaper peeled back to reveal slogans.

"Los Lobos - Nosotras gobernamos esta pueblo." The Wolves - We Rule This Town. Who was Los Lobos? A question better answered for another day. Sean placed a hand up to signal for Daniel to wait outside. He scoured the downstairs portion of the house, a moderate room, likely once a living room and kitchen combination, with a door leading out to what looked like an unused garage, with plenty of tools strewn about, and... to Sean's dismay, what seemed to be a spoon and a needle leaning against the wall in the corner, as well as some other various drug paraphernalia. Taking the stairs, he reached a large landing area, with pictures thrown about, furniture moving boxes still on the floor, and many of the doors missing or rotted away, with the same graffiti everywhere. Two bedrooms; the first of which was a master bedroom, anciently decorated with a four-poster bed, several portraits leaning against a wall, and an old dresser.

Sean moved closer to the dresser, pulling open the top drawer to find what his nostrils had only been teasing him of this entire time; a huge bag of weed, stuffed to the absolute brim and sealed. Shocked by the number of drugs in the home, and the graffiti, Sean didn't even bother inspecting the upstairs bathroom or second bedroom, and clambered down the jagged staircase which had no carpet or flooring, and took Daniel's hand, stepping away from the house. A pang of fear hit his stomach as he glanced to the concrete structure. Gang takeover?

"We can't stay there for tonight, sorry dude. It's a fucking mess." Sean sighed, dusting his hands off on his pants and wanting to be rid of the pungent scent of drugs as he stepped out into the cooling evening air. The house was unpleasantly dank and musty, and he wanted to be far from it. Leaning on the car, he considered his options for a place to say. 

There was the beach; quiet, but cold in the night. Sean could probably make a fire out of some driftwood or some materials in the house, but was it really a good idea? Daniel deserved a nice place to stay. The truck? Nah. Not a good idea. The heating was broken. The motel was a tempting option, yet as he stared at his backpack, he was reminded not only of how little money he had but also of the conversion over to pesos. Puerto Lobos was far from the border, and getting Mexican money would be hard. Not like he could cross back into America either. Or like he would want to. 

There was... Surely a neighbour would know Esteban? Sean had never heard him talk much of his neighbours, yet in a small town, surely he'd have known them? As in Away. But... there was the possibility that they'd rat him out over the border incident. Not all Mexicans were omnibenevolent beings of purity; assholes were abound everywhere, and he wasn't sure whether he could trust anybody, or be trusted in their homes. How could they even help him? But... he had to try. The motel wasn't plausible, and to make Daniel suffer through another night outside was something Sean didn't want to go through. He deserved to be warm and safe for the night, in spite of all the odds. He'd done a lot during the day and deserved more than some dishevelled beach with a small driftwood fire.

"We'll go and... see a neighbour. Try and knock at their place, see if they'll help us." Sean nodded, patting his brother's shoulder, and glancing about at the neighbouring homes; it was unlike anything he had seen in Seattle. Plots of land lay barren, and the neighbourhood was epitomised by these blocks of houses. Esteban's was entirely grey, possibly being the drabbest looking of all. He spotted a house a few doors down; the door aglow with light, as well as the bottom floor. The top floor was dark besides one window in the front of the house glowing a bright blue. The house itself seemed to be a pale maroon colour, looking worn, yet with flowers adorning the front windows. Sean advanced over, keeping his brother's cold hand locked tightly in his own. He smiled at him, dusting a bit of desert dust from his cheek with a gentle palm and standing his brother at his side, the brown front door inside a small alcove, which sheltered them from any wind. Though the night was fairly still.

Knock knock knock.

Silence. Had three knocks been too much? Sean glanced at Daniel, who eagerly awaited the door to open. What should he say? "Hi, we need your help" sounded urgent. He didn't want to scare anybody away from helping them. Perhaps an introduction? Make Daniel say hello first? No, that was manipulative. Should he even say anything? Should he wait for them to make the first move? No. That wasn't right either. They'd find him weird. What if they thought he was a salesman? Or worse, recognised him! What if-

"Look." Came a pitched, yet cool-sounding voice from the doorway. Sean snapped out of his anxious trance and came face to face with... a doorway glowing yellow from the inside light. He glanced down, and a girl stood at the door, about a head taller than Daniel. She had headphones around her neck, which glowed and pulsated impressively with rainbow lights, a microphone tilted with a red light on it. She leaned against the doorway, holding a can of Pepsi which oozed with cool droplets of water, fresh from the fridge. 

"I don't care what Diego wants. If he has business, he can come here on his own terms. Not get others to do it for him..." The girl snapped; angrily demanding Sean's eye contact as she stared bullets at him.

"I- Sorry. Look, I didn't come on business of anybody... Do you... have an adult in the house with you? Mama or Papa?"  
Wrong choice of words, Sean. The girl's brow furrowed upon Sean's mention of her parents, and she shook her head.

"Mama's surely not in the mood to have her windows washed, she'll do them next Saturday. Seriously, you'd best just go. Besides; isn't it a bit late?" She still eyed up Sean quizically, yet her eyes darted to Daniel, who had taken a bit of a step back and was pretending to be disengaged with the girl's conversation. Taking a look at her, Sean noticed that she was likely not much younger than himself, perhaps twelve or thirteen? She had sleek, blonde hair, which was growing black at the roots, a smooth complexion, and deep brown eyes. No doubt with heavy Mexican heritage, noting the interior furnishings of the house being very dated and traditional, with furniture looking quite antique.

"Just, we're not window cleaners. I doubt you know who Esteban Diaz is... was... but you Mama, does she?" Sean pleaded, stepping forward as if wanting to put a foot in the doorway, scared that the bland, uncaring girl might slam the door in his face.

"Right, but if you're here to harass her for money, I swear to God, I'll fight you myself." A voice came from her headphones, yet Sean couldn't make out the noise. The girl clicked a button on the side of them. "Leo, I'll be back in a minute, chill. Tell them to not queue for a game yet. I'll be back."

"We're not. We just want to talk to her about somebody she might have known. I promise." She nodded, sighing and slumping off up the stairs, shouting as she went.

"Mama! There's a boy here to see you. Kid with an eyepatch. Said something about- er... Estaniel Diaz? Some shit?" Sean heard some muffled shouting he could not make out, amidst some closing doors. He stood at the doorstep for a moment, closing it over as to not let the cold and dust sweep in. Before long, a large lady with a pink fluffy dressing gown on, and her hair wrapped in a towel, with a slightly damp, steamed-looking face emerged at the door, her jaw wide at the sight of the boys.

"Esteban!!! No- You're... You're Sean!" She beamed, pinching Daniel's cheek immediately and paying little attention to the older boy. Daniel shook his head nervously and spoke in a very plain tone as if lecturing a child, clearly annoyed at being referred to like his older brother.

"No-no-no-no... Me? Me Daniel? Him Sean! Sean, Daniel." He nodded, frantically pointing between the boys. The lady laughed, her deep brown eyes showcasing a sparkle of their own, unlike her daughter's uncaring eyes. She glanced up at Sean and smiled warmly, as if he was an old friend, before kneeling to Daniel's level.

"Don't worry, silly. I can speak English just fine!" So he's Sean, and You're Daniel!" She confirmed, pointing between the two boys. "...Esteban's boys..." She nodded gravely, averting her eye contact to the floor. Daniel seemed joyous that he could finally talk to somebody he understood. He nodded a little giddily.

"Y-yeah! Sean said you might be able to help us?!" Daniel pestered, standing on his tip-toes a bit.

"Dude, I didn't say we could get help, I said we can introduce ourselves here."

"Nuh-uh! You said to me when we were by the tr-"

"Boys! Boys!" the lady clapped, laughing heartily. "You bicker like children, let's keep the noise down, okay? Listen... there was word around the town that Esteban's boys might show up soon. The whole town knows your names. Some think you're misunderstood... At my book club, we were talking, talking of Esteban and of what we'd read in the papers about... everything. It makes sense you came here." She scooped the boys around the back with a large arm, and pulled them into the warm sanctity of her house, an open-plan floor with a small wooden dining table, a yellowed kitchen which looked like something Lyla would've made in The Sims, and a small, cosy living room with a large flatscreen TV, blasting Cartoon Network with a few stuffy red couches and a bean bag, sporting a messy coffee table.

"My name is Isla, I grew up with your father." She nodded to the boys, taking a seat at the dining table and motioning for them to sit. Sean grinned, taking his pew and sitting Daniel on his knee slightly, him twiddling with his thumbs nervously.

"Nice to meet you, Isla. I'm... so sorry, that we've had to come to you like this." Sean apologised frantically. He was quickly shushed by Isla's finger.

"No, I will not stand for apologies, not from Esteban's sons, the two of you need a helping hand now more than ever. I am sorry if Ynez, my daughter wasn't the most inviting of figures, she can be a tad antisocial... Eh, you know how it is. Teenagers and their games, she's borderline addicted, I swear. Don't let her rustle you up. Anyway... as for the two of you. I do have questions."

"Shoot." Sean shrugged. "I've got nothing to hide here, and I don't want to hide anymore." Isla nodded graciously, a smile spreading across her face.

"Would you like something to eat?" Was her first question. Sean refused, knowing of his dinner waiting in the form of Karen's grocery bag in the back of the car. Daniel, however, seemed dejected to this. Oh well.

Next on the agenda; "How did you get here?" Sean explained the dreary details of the border incident, neglecting to mention Daniel's powers, instead saying that they managed to get through a roadblock. As if by sheer chance. Right. As soon as the papers came out tomorrow, or she watched the evening news, she'd know what had happened. Nice bullshitting. As Sean finished the end of his story, Isla nodded carefully, bringing her furrowed brow to meet Sean's and holding his hand.

"I am so sorry, for what you've been through... I know you may want to start living your lives again, but... listen. It's not appropriate at the minute. The police will be looking for you. Did anybody else see you come here? Anybody... spoken to you? Recognised you?" She implored; Sean shook his head.

"No. We came straight to my dad's house, then here. Swear."

"Then nobody's seen you? You weren't followed or watched? New faces in Puerto Lobos are hard to hide, but we can keep you here for a while. I can see future options for you." Isla was clearly trying her best, a motherly, round face filled with hope for the boys.

"We kind of... wanted to live in my dad's old place. See if we could get it fixed up.

Silence. Isla looked grave. What felt like an eternity passed, before she took a deep breath and met Sean's gaze once more. "We'll keep you here, for the time being. Like I said until we'll see about future options." Before Sean could protest or investigate her worried nature over his father's house, she continued. "You can stay in the living room for now... I would have cleared out the back room for you, but it's a bit of a mess right now, and we'll need to do it when it's the morning... Ynez borrowed the lights in there for her gaming setup, and I'm sure she won't part with it, unless I go in, during the morning, and take it."

Sean still wanted to ask about his father's house, and why they couldn't stay there, but he felt it rude to question a woman who was so adamant about their safety. He felt safe with her, but felt it appropriate to ask another question. He asked whether Daniel was okay staying there, to which his brother nodded eagerly, and rushed to the couch, where he took his seat watching new cartoons. Isla smiled.

"If Ynez keeps you up late with her screaming, just turn to unplug the internet, or bang on her door and tell her to shut up- oh... do you want the Wi-Fi password?" She beamed.

"N-nah... I don't actually have a phone." He muttered embarrassedly. He felt like such an idiot for saying it, amongst a family who was seemingly very technological, eyeing up Isla's smartphone on the table.

"Oh... Well, we have a laptop you can use if you'd like, or... I don't know. We'll sort it out tomorrow, Hijo. I promise." Isla smiled, caressing Sean's cheek. "I know you're probably so tired... I'll grab some pillows, from the upstairs, and in the morning, we'll talk about everything. Do you... need anything for your eye?" She questioned, pulling back his eyepatch a little, seeing what was underneath. Sean had gotten into the habit of his eye being closed over now, so she was not met with much, but Sean graciously shook his head again.

"No, uh... no thanks. It's okay, just need to put some lubricant in it every now and then. I'll do it in the morning, but... thanks Isla. Seriously."

"Don't be silly, Sean. It's my pleasure. Get yourselves comfy in here, there's microwave stuff in the cupboards if you get hungry, mess it all up as much as you want, as you can tell, we don't exactly run our house like a showroom. As long as you're nice and cosy, that's all that matters. Watch TV for a bit if you want, and there's no pressure to get up early. I get up late most days, and my darling daughter will usually rise at the crack of two-thirty in the afternoon, or whenever she wants food from her servant... that would be me!" 

His mind pressed. "Isla... what's wrong with my dad's house?"

More silence.

"I understand that you're overwhelmed, and I don't want to add to that. We can talk about it tomorrow, just understand that it would be better for you two to stay here for a while... okay?" Isla turned to him compassionately as she began standing, placing a hand on his head and ruffling his hair about affectionately. "I don't want to hide things from you, I promise we'll talk about it all, just not when I still need to do my hair, and when you and your brother need to cuddle up and watch some cartoons or something, you must be sleepy. We've got lots of channels, and snacks about. Enjoy your night, Hijos. I'll talk to you in the morning." She smiled.

"Goodnight Isla!" Daniel chimed, butchering the pronunciation of her name, and Sean grinned. "Goodnight, Isla. Thank you so much, seriously."

She left the room for the upstairs of the house. The boys were alone. Aside from Ynez's distant raging at her game, and the cartoons playing on the TV, Sean and Daniel were alone. It was a strange kind of serenity; relaxation. There was no longer a road ahead. They had made it. Daniel noticed Sean standing at his chair, making his way over to the living room. As if naturally, the two descended onto the carpet in a tight embrace, a comforting squeeze of love. Sean mumbled into Daniel's shoulder, still coated in bandages.

"I love you, Daniel. So fucking much."

"I love you too, Sean... I'm so glad we made it."

"Same... I was so scared, so scared of losing you, this morning." It was as if everything Sean had been wanting to say had suddenly collapsed into a bumbling mess of words. "When I woke up, in the police station... I never thought that the same night I'd be sitting with you, here... We've been talking about this for a year."

"I had some doubts..." Daniel muttered, still clinging on tight. "But I'm so happy... happy to be here with you, Sean. We're gonna do good, I can feel it. This is our home now, right?"

"Our home."

The Wolf Brothers' journey to Puerto Lobos was over, but their journey in Puerto Lobos was only just beginning.


	3. Where The Heart Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their first night in Puerto Lobos, Sean is left with hundreds of troubles in the back of his mind, it's simply a matter of addressing them. With Isla's help, will the Wolf Brothers figure out a way to make a house a home, or will there be more trials yet to come?

"I guess I thought... things would be different here."

"Different? Things are different, Daniel... we made it here, you and me."

"But... what Isla said... the police."

The clock ticked over to eleven P.M. Hours had passed since their arrival. A mound of demolished food sat before Sean and Daniel on the ripped paper bag, as the two lounged on a blanket, Daniel craning his neck up to watch the new Hawt-Dawg-Man episodes which had been airing continuously. Sean took another carrot stick from the pile of scraps they had left, and let out a long, knowing sigh.

"I know... you deserve better, Enano. I'm sorry that we had to come here to... all of this mess. But hey, look. We're here, right?"

"What's changed?" The smaller Diaz snapped, placing his head in a cupped hand as he absentmindedly tore the brown paper into smaller pieces, dividing it up for himself and flicking the tiny bits over their blanket.

"What do you mean?" Sean demanded, feeling highly concerned at Daniel's disappointed tone.

"I mean... what's changed since we came here? We got stopped by the policeman, then... there are problems with the house, we can't even stay there, Isla said so... So, what's changed? We're still having problems! You told me there would be no running!" He barked at Sean, his brows furrowed in an angry pout, shuffling away from Sean a little in his anger, huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf.

Sean pondered on his brother's feelings. Had he been too optimistic in his assessment that he could just escape to Puerto Lobos and live as if... as if nothing had ever happened? He had constantly been running from consequence, from guilt, from blame. But he hadn't done anything! Right? Sure, he hadn't always done the morally right thing, but... did he deserve this? He was doing the best he could.

"I know how you feel, Daniel. I'm scared too." Sean tried to reassure his brother, knowing he would feel better having somebody to relate to. "But, we can't give up now. The, uh... the hard part is done, right? And we're here now, safe in Isla's house. It's a bit like with Cla-... With Grandma and Grandpa. Isn't it?" He beamed, hoping to remind Daniel of the cold winter days they spent indoors. Daniel had taken to using his powers to fly the small brown paper pieces around in little figures of eight.

"I guess so... but, when will things get better? Will things ever be like... like they used to? I barely even remember what life was like in Seattle. It seems so long ago, but... I know it was better." 

It crushed Sean to hear it because he knew exactly how Daniel felt; when his biggest worry was having something he didn't like for dinner, or Jenn at the party. At least if Jenn had rejected him, Sean wouldn't have been homeless and hungry. After staring down the barrel of a gun many times, his old life had... stopped occurring to him as often. Lyla had been a background character in his mind when she was once the Deuteragonist of their adventures; his BFF. Now? He didn't even know where she was, or what she was doing. 

"You remember when Dad used to talk about how he was starting out in America, Daniel? He said that it was the hardest decision he ever made, but probably the best... He met Mom, came to Seattle, bought our home, and... look how happy he was. Right up until that day, he would always wake up and want to try something new, and you saw how happy he was to have us."

He paused. It was right to go more personal.

"He loved you, and me. Well, I've been thinking, maybe this is what it was like for him. The road ahead will be hard, even if there isn't an actual road anymore. But I have faith in you, and in me. We've made it this far, and we've had good times together. Who's to say that, you know, things won't change for the better? We've got Isla to help us, we aren't alone."

Daniel nodded solemnly. "She's a bit like... Brody. Right?" He wondered, his inquisitive gaze meeting Sean's eyes.

"Brody! Yeah, she is. Friendly bears." He remarked, giggling to Daniel about the Wolf Story.

"Isla said she, uh... has a laptop we can use and stuff. Do you think we could go on his blog tomorrow? And see where he's been?" The little Diaz asked, a gradual smile returning to his lips, yet Sean knew it would take time for Daniel to be truly happy and content again.

"I can ask her in the morning, for sure. We'll see. Anyway, dude, it's getting super late, and I know she said she doesn't mind us getting up late, but I can imagine she'll want her living room back at some point, so we should probably get to sleep soon, right?"

"But... what about Hawt Dawg Man? I've barely even seen any of the new season!" Daniel pleaded. Sean knew his brother, and if he knew him as well as he was thinking, he wouldn't last twenty more minutes, so he grinned. 

"Alright, Daniel. You can stay up and watch TV, and I'll get some shuteye. You can be our guard wolf, and watch over us, keep us safe. Just turn it down a little, so I can get to sleep. Okay?" 

"Yeah, promise, it'll be super quiet. I'll uh- turn the subtitles on!" To which Sean nodded and stroked his brother's hair out of his face, pulling him into a warming embrace and patting his shoulder. Ensuring to turn away from Daniel as he took off his eyepatch and replaced it with Brody's sleeping mask, Sean rested his head on an assortment of worn, brown pillows, which acted as his comfort against the absolute churning in his stomach from internalised anxiety at what he could do next.

But the thoughts didn't linger much as the sounds of Hawt Dawg Man and the breeze of the air conditioning coalesced and assimilated into a continuous background hum; Sean couldn't fight off the sweet, alluring envelopment of sleep, and he felt more and more inclined to slip away into the world of dreams.

And so he did.

Last night's dreams had been wrought with terror, and the geographical difference brought no change to Sean's perturbed mental state tonight either. Watching Daniel be pulled away from him as a judge sentenced him to a thousand years in prison... Agent Flores, pleading for her life as Sean destroyed her skull with a piece of rubbled cinderblock. Watching Lisbeth use her pointed fingernails to carve up Daniel's back... and finally, a sweltering hot room with too many doors, which all led back into the same room. Inescapable.

Amidst his attempts at unlocking the doors, he felt a familiar presence behind him.

"Dad?"

"Hijo..."

Turning around, Sean saw not his father, but his voice still cut into the silence of his disturbing nightmares.

"Dad? A-are you there?" Sean pleaded, his tone trembling, yet echoed as if he was in a large cave. It didn't fit the room at all.

"Mi Hijo... such a young man you have grown into. You look different from when we last met." Esteban's frail voice descended from the darkness again, as if trembling through Sean's own brittle mind.

"Papa..." Sean trembled, he knew that his voice was verging on tears, but had to fight it back... Even though deep down, he knew it wasn't real... or was it? Did his life have jurisdiction over his dreams? Or vice versa? What if this really was Esteban? No... that was a religious thought. But...?

"What I mean to say is... that guilty conscience of yours has aged you ten years. You look older than me, my son."

"That's impossible..." Sean half-laughed, trying to wipe away mental tears which didn't exist. This was a dream. The room wasn't even there anymore, in fact, he wasn't sure what was there. But he knew Esteban's voice was.

"You truly think it's impossible that one day, you could be like your old man? I'm middle-aged. Not a fossil." He bantered.

"Dad... I... sometimes I find it hard to remember, you know, what you looked like and stuff. I need to find photos of you in the house. I... don't know why, I just feel so detached. Was that really me, before all of this?"

"Si, mi Hijo. You may not feel like it, but you're the same boy who would hit me up for cash for parties and new art equipment... You've just grown up, for real this time."

"For real... this time?" Sean asked, his voice trembling and echoing through his head like a hollow chamber. "What do you mean?"

"In your eyes... something has changed, my son. The spark in your eyes has grown into a roaring flame. Do you know? You've protected your brother, and you made it, back to mi pueblo: Puerto Lobos... but that doesn't mean your journey is over. Not by a long shot."

The words hit Sean right in his stomach. "B-but..." he mumbled. "Fuck... I don't know why I thought it would be so easy. Just wanted to keep Daniel safe. I think at some point, when I was in that desert, I saw some freaky shit, hallucinations, I don't even know what. I just knew... Daniel's life mattered more than mine."

Sean wanted to ask it; he wasn't sure if his dreams would even allow him, but his raspy voice put together the question.

"Do you... blame me? For what we did at the border?"

Esteban's voice was silent for a moment. Sean felt a black hole open inside his chest, a huge pang of guilt before his presuming anxiety was cut off by Esteban's soothing tone.

"My son... Sean. You've had to do hard things to survive. Things no boy your age should even have to consider. But... I can't make that judgement for you. You have to decide for yourself..."

"Decide for yourself."

Sean wasn't sure how much later it was before he began to stir; the noise of drawers being pulled open slowly became a focal point his ears had picked up, and he began to adjust to reality through his sore eye and flipped up his blindfold in order to survey.

A harsh, white sunlight was seeping in through the slightly open blinds, the setup from the night before of their late-night snacking the exact same as it had been. Sean's eyes wandered about the room, before catching a glimpse of Daniel, standing next to Isla's bulky figure, silhouetted against the kitchen view. The lights in the house were still off, and Sean read "10:44" on the grandfather clock standing by the yellowed walls.

He sat up, each ligament of his body aching from overexertion. Yesterday had been a wild day. Today could be nothing but calm by comparison. Sean decided to meekly make his presence aware by sitting up, allowing himself to yawn and stretch as he slipped his eyepatch around his head. Immediately, he saw his brother's head turn, Daniel's eyes lighting up as he tottered over to Sean along the slippery floor, diving on top of his brother in a warm, yet startling embrace.

"Morning, Sean! Look! Isla gave me a t-shirt! It's got Power Bear on it- But in Spanish!" The younger Diaz beamed, sitting next to Sean as he struggled to get his bearings about the world.

"Nice, Daniel." Sean peered over his shoulder and mouthed a "Gracias" to Isla, who beamed and made her way over to the living room area, sitting in the adjacent armchair.

"Good morning, Sean." she smiled, leaning down and brushing his hair out of his face. "How did you sleep? I know it isn't a five-star resort, but..."

"Isla, please. I can't thank you enough. I was seriously worried last night, you know, that we wouldn't have a place to go, or that we'd have to blow our money on a hotel room. Thank you." Sean sighed, putting an arm around Daniel as he yanked the TV remote from Sean's side, flicking through cartoons again while Sean spoke over his shoulder at the large woman who sat a couple of feet from them. She seemed to crease perfectly into that armchair.

"That's flattering, Sean. I'll make some breakfast for us all once Ynez gets up... lazy girl. If she's not up soon, I'll take the pots and pans to her door." Isla chuckled, watching the TV as Daniel tried to figure out how to turn the subtitles on. Sean lay a firm pat on Daniel's shoulder as he shifted his body weight up onto the sofa behind him, taking a seat and sighing aloud.

"So... what are your plans for today?" Isla asked politely as if everything was normal, and Sean was simply there on a visit, a vacation.

"Plans? Uhm... I guess, see about the house? You know... try and get things cleaned up. See how soon we can move into there, get out of your hair, you know?"

Isla looked troubled. Her jovial expression had shifted to a pensive one as she averted eye contact with Sean.

"You know?" Sean repeated, looking for some sort of confirmation. Isla took a deep sigh. Oh no.

"Sean... I think we should... try and get you two a little more comfortable first- I... You know! The house is very messy, a-and, maybe it would be nice to sit on the beach today. Try and make your first day here special." She stumbled.

Sean eyed her up quizically. Behind her worn, painted smile hid something very grave. Sean did not think lightly when wanting to pressure for more information, as he felt a deep pang of anxiety at what the reason could be for not moving into the house.

"We need to see the house, Isla. It's important." 

Instant regret. Isla let out an angered sigh, the kind a disappointed mother might give. She turned to Daniel, placing a hand out to him.

"Daniel, do you think you could go and get me something, from out on the beach? Like a secret mission!" Isla chimed in. Daniel also looked troubled.

"But... but, I wanna stay with you and Sean! A-and talk about... the house. I want the bigger room!" Daniel pestered, but Sean peered down to his level, making eye contact from around his shoulder.

"Daniel, grown-up talk, okay? I'll fill you in on everything once it's over, but... you should go outside and enjoy the beach for today, it's probably... super warm outside." His face was still doubtful.

"Come on... for me?" Sean asked, hoping to appeal to him, to which he was met with a sad nod.

"Okay... fine." Daniel pouted. "What do I have to do?"

Isla had already made her way over to the kitchen cabinets, pulling out a few glass bottles from under the sink, and carrying them over to Daniel.

"I need you to grab some sand, some shells, and make the inside of these bottles look really pretty, so we can put them up on the shelf! You know, for decorations! I keep asking Isla to do it, and my old bones don't make it across the beach as easily, but you can run around!"

Almost begrudgingly, the younger Diaz took the bottles from Isla's hands and trudged out of the back door onto the porch. Sean watched his tiny head bob further out, trusting that he wouldn't venture too far out on the golden sands towards the sea... Daniel was more independent, and he had to have trust in him now. 

"Sean... I want to stary by saying that, well... Like I told you last night. Your names are, how do you say- quite a sensitive topic here in Puerto Lobos." Isla began. Sean stopped her before she had time to continue, a little riled up.

"Yeah, but... we'll be quiet in the house. We'll only go out for super basic shit. It isn't a problem, Isla. We've been laying low for a year now.

She shook her head gravely, taking a deep, yet shaky inhale. Sean felt her reach over to hold his hand, and he did not resist.

"Sean... you're right to question me on it. I just want to say that I'm glad you and Daniel made it here. What you're about to hear, you might not like, okay? You and Daniel must have been through so much to get here... so much. I cannot even begin to imagine. And whether you are guilty or not, I don't know. I have known you for one night. But what I do know is that you deserve the chance to make your own choice about what to do next."

Another deep inhale followed, Isla's voice clearly becoming strained, fighting back some cracking emotion.

"So... if you and Daniel want me to get you a hotel, maybe out of town for a few months, while I see what I can do..."

Sean felt his wrist become tense, he gripped Isla's hand strongly in a fit of anger, and glared right into her eyes, for the first time not letting them wander away.

"Just tell me! Tell me straight! It can't be any worse than the shit we've been through." He pleaded, feeling the back of his neck turn hot. He loosened up his firm grip on her arm, realising he had left a little mark. Isla merely nodded solemnly and continued to hold Sean's hand.

"Sean, after your father left, he was in hot water with some people around here... Borrowed money from the wrong people to get a head start on his garage, you know, after his parents died. He wanted to build the greatest garage Puerto Lobos had ever know.

But... the money he borrowed, from gangs... It found it's way back to him, and Esteban left México, he didn't even... really tell me much. We spoke after, letters and things, and I knew he'd had sons, but we didn't stay in contact very often. I regret that now."

Sean shook his head, this was unbeknownst to him, he felt a sense of betrayal, almost, that his father had never told him the tales of moving to America from years ago. He had made it out to be a far more jovial experience than this. Gangs? Was his father really involved with gangs?"

"So..." Isla continued, allowing Sean to process for a minute before continuing. "They... took your father's home over. They keep things there. Drugs, money stashes, women, everything you'd think of. I don't want you and Daniel to be disappointed, but you will probably have to consider other things. I can help you as much as you want, but you can't stay there, sweetheart."

"Are you serious?" Sean asked, not a hint of anger in his voice, more just a raspy, brittle tone of bitter loss and confusion. He had come all of this way, crossed such a large physical wall, only to be met with an even bigger mental one. He closed his eyes, feeling the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I'm so sorry. You're not going to be able to stay there. Los Lobos run it. We don't talk of them much. They are a plague which infects this town, a nasty offshoot of a cartel. They're ruthless, and while I want to say that some of them would have the humanity to just give you a beating or a warning shot for trying to move back into the house... some of the ones, the ones who knew Esteban, I can't say the same about them. They're dangerous people."

"Oh." was all Sean could muster to say. So long of running, of hiding, of Puerto Lobos seeming to be the perfect hiding spot, but it was as if he was at the very beginning again. Police had still stopped him, he was still suffering. "Same shit, different country." he sighed. His mind began to wonder about his options... He was done with being homeless but doubted Isla would take care of him forever. He was basically an adult now... right?

Suddenly, something happened. The hairs on the back of Sean's neck stood up.

A scream. A wild, pained, howling scream. A scream he knew. That he could recognise anywhere. A scream with the power to shoot fear through his body like a vile poison.

Daniel.

Sean leapt to his feet, rummaging through his backpack near the door to yank out the officer's pistol he had stolen the day before. Isla gasped as he brandished the weapon, waddling after him as he yanked the front door open, his bare feet pitter-patting across the tiled pathway outside over to Esteban's house. He was sure of it. He needed to save Daniel. No. He could not let him die.

"DANIEL?!" Sean hollered as he kicked the front door open. The sight that met his eyes was something that he never thought he would see in his life.

Blood. Everywhere. Two older men, covered head-to-toe in tattoos, stood towards the back of the room each armed with long blades, while Daniel, with his back to Sean, was standing mere feet away. Amidst the darkened, dusty lighting, it took a minute for Sean to notice the blood dripping from Daniel. He dared not even move until he noticed his brother shaking and grunting a little. Daniel finally turned to face Sean, his face as white as a sheet and fell in his arms.

Which was when Sean noticed the knife sticking out of Daniel's stomach.

"Fuck! No, no, no, no! Daniel! What happened?!" 

He looked up at the older men standing at the edge of the room, standing en guarde, each armed with rusted blades. They were mere gruff silhouettes against the sunlight outside of the back window, but Sean held his gun up nonetheless, his finger tracing the length of the trigger.

"DID YOU STAB MY BROTHER?!" He screamed, his hand itching to pull it. "DID YOU?"

"S-sean... Don't worry." Daniel's frail voice responded, a trail of thick, hot blood dripping from his mouth. Sean was too taken aback to act as Daniel rose to his feet, standing up to the two men across the room. They advanced on the younger Diaz, and Sean pre-emptively held up his gun, aiming at them head-on. He didn't want to, but he would. Anything to defend Daniel.

It came as even more of a shock to him when he saw Daniel remove the knife from his own stomach. He cringed as he watched the ragged blade being torn from his brother's abdomen.

Next thing, Daniel used his power to bind the two men in the air, holding them up by their necks as he advanced on them, staggered, but still with a determined gait. He held his arm up, using the knife to carefully trace along the gangster's stomach. Sean was simply confused, before noticing the blood dripping from the man's stomach. Daniel was carving him like a piece of softwood.

"D-daniel... stop it!" Sean pleaded, dropping the gun and taking a step forward to his brother, who was making sickening squelching sounds, the knife simply dancing through the flesh of his victim. Daniel's stomach still dripped heavily, and Sean moved in closer. No response.

"S-stop it, Daniel, now!" He shouted. Sean heard a devastating crunch as Daniel broke the neck of the first man, and before he could even comprehend what had happened, Daniel's white-hot fear condensed into a single act of him slamming the knife into the second man's head, leaving him pinned into the worn cupboard behind him by his forehead. Dead on impact.

"D-daniel... What the fuck..." Sean watched his younger brother panting and huffing, his knees buckling. The older wolf brother slowly advanced across the dusted floor.

"Enano... Fuck... what did you do?" Sean pleaded.

"STOP IT!" Daniel hollered. Sean suddenly felt a force grip his body, as if an invisible tidal wave had swept him away. The last thing he saw was Daniel's face, anguished and bloodstained.


End file.
